However, Venezuelan authorities claim that the soccer players were paramilitaries, and these claims have added to the conflict between the countries. Besides the “incidents” already described above, Colombian intelligence officials or “spies” as the Venezuelan government refers to them, have been “captured” in Venezuelan territory, 8 “paramilitaries” were arrested in Táchira, two Venezuelan national guards were killed by gunmen on the border, and another was expelled [es] by the Colombian government. Colombia's intelligence agency even admitted that documents showed by Venezuelan Interior Minister Tareck El Aissami, seized from the “spies” captured in Maracay, were authentic [es].

Venezuela's government is upset for the agreement between United States and Colombia, which allows the former to use several military bases in the latter's territory, which has been presented as a “co-operation accord”. The pact was signed in early November, but it already has been the subject of an extraordinary UNASUR meeting past August to discuss the matter.

On November 8, Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez told the Venezuelan military, on his weekly program Aló, Presidente that “the best way to avoid war is by preparing for it”. (see the video on the Adam Isacson post linked at the end of this post). Around 15,000 troops have already been sent to the border by Chávez. Colombia, which planned to send 12,000 troops, took the case to the Organization of American States and the United Nations, but the letter sent by the Colombian government did not ask for actions against Caracas.

Meanwhile, President Chávez softened his rhetoric, claiming his words had been “manipulated.” In addition, its Public Works minister, who is also the president of the Communications Commission, announced it will sanction [es] the media which “manipulate” Chávez's words. However, a few days later, the Venezuelan president again raised his tone against the Colombian government, blaming the U.S. base pact for his country's tensions with its neighbor. Chávez insulted the Colombian Defense Minister Gabriel Silva by calling him“mentally retarded”, the Colombian Foreign Minister Jaime Bermúdez as being “disgraceful”, after Mr, Bermúdez “regretted” UNASUR's silence over Chávez's words. He also called President Álvaro Uribe Vélez by calling him“mafioso” and a “traitor” for delivering “the motherland to the yankees” [es]. Brazil, Spain, and even the United States have offered to mediate.

In the blog Atrabilioso [es], Jaime Restrepo writes:

Si hay algo repetitivo en el accionar de la dictadura venezolana es el lanzamiento de cortinas de humo. Los venezolanos están tan acostumbrados, ya vencidos por la fuerza de la repetición del mecanismo, que terminan aceptando los torpes montajes que elaboran desde Miraflores, para desviar la atención nacional e internacional.

La última cortina de humo es una ignominia: para tratar de ocultar el secuestro y ajusticiamiento de nueve colombianos en Venezuela, el dictador y su ministro del interior han armado un alboroto sobre la captura de tres presuntos funcionarios del DAS, que estarían haciendo “inteligencia” para “desestabilizar” al progresista de Miraflores.

Restrepo also criticizes the passiveness of the Colombian government. In another piece [es] published on the blog Atrabilioso, Eduardo Mackenzie writes about “Anti-Colombian pogroms” in Chavez's Venezuela:

Ese hecho y la matanza de los diez muchachos pone al orden del día un nuevo fenómeno: hay un ambiente de pogrom anticolombiano en Venezuela. Pues no sólo alguien los está asesinando sino que ahora algunos están perdiendo sus propiedades y huyendo de Venezuela. Es lo que le ocurrió a la pereirana Sonia Restrepo quien el 15 de mayo de 2009 tuvo que abandonar su fábrica de telas estampadas y huir de Guarenas, cerca de Caracas. Unas 40 personas armadas irrumpieron en su casa en nombre de un “círculo bolivariano” y la acusaron de ser una “extranjera explotadora”. Sin que ninguna autoridad la protegiera, ella perdió así la empresa que había construido durante 30 años.

Valentina Díaz, from the blog Realidades Colombianas [es] , slams Chávez and, without mentioning him by name, praises Brazilian president Lula:

El hecho de que solo hasta hace unos días Chávez haya descubierto la existencia de las teorías de Marx, socialismo comunista, no lo hace una novedad. Fueron escritas en el Siglo 19 (sic). Si no fueron capaces de sostener la revolución bolchevique a sangre y fuego en Rusia, guerra tras guerra, menos lo lograran en América un alocado y despistado mandatario latino. Obsérvese como en el Brasil su gobierno está introduciendo exitosamente lo “social”. Nadie evade a su gobernante, por el contrario, lo aplauden y le buscan para que contribuya a solucionar problemas de otros países. Es una persona que no se siente amenazado porque sabe que lo esta haciendo bien, nunca arremete ni inventa guerras con sus vecinos. Se trata de un señor, un estadista, que juzga observando primero el respeto a la dignidad humana de los pueblos, las instituciones y personas. La diferencia es muy grande y por eso al contrario de Chávez en Colombia se le quiere y aprecia.

In a subsequent piece, Valentina outspokenly criticizes [es] Chávez's war rhetoric:

Si quiere estrenar las armas que les compró a negociantes de la muerte, que las estrenen pero no con sangre colombiana ni gente inocente venezolana. Si Bolívar viviera hoy, habría sacado a Chávez a patadas del palacio de Moraflores.

However, Salomon [es] thinks that the Venezuelan president's warmongering has a “goal”:

El llamado a la guerra de Hugo Chavez Frias, solo es una medida de distracción a su verdadero objetivo: Controlar a Colombia, para expandir la influencia ideológica de su revolución, y para conseguirlo, está dispuesto a lo que sea, incluso a llevar a la guerra a dos pueblos hermanos.

Alejogalvis of Censurados: Cero [es] is “ashamed” of the Venezuelan president:

Eso de cerrar frontera cada vez que se le viene en gana deja ver la ridícula posición de este tipo, que en vez de buscar una solución, lo que intenta es enemistar a dos pueblos que se han criado de la mano, antes de la era Uribe ó de la era Chávez. Pena es lo que debería darle a Chávez que amenaza con guerra cuando su país está en pleno racionamiento de agua, luz y quién sabe qué otra plaga falta por caerle a ese país.

Blanca Rolón claims [es] Chávez is, unintentionally, helping to increase Uribe's popularity in Colombia:

1. No quiere a Uribe como presidente, pero le está haciendo la mejor campaña posible.
2. MERCOSUR está estudiando milimétricamente el ingreso de Venezuela a este organismo, pues Argentina y Paraguay no son tan retrógrados y ciegos como para no darse cuenta que Chávez no encaja por ser tan imprudente.
3. Si los organismos internacionales intervienen (OEA, ONU), pues Estados Unidos se mete en Venezuela acusándolo de auxiliar terroristas o algo así, y Colombia obviamente será su base militar.
4. El miedo de Venezuela a Estados Unidos tiene fundamento, ya que no sólo es por el petróleo, a lo mejor tiene cola de paja y, conociendo el modo de operar EE. UU., fácilmente lo acusará de peligroso para la paz de América, y más rápido lo va a invadir que como hizo con Irak.
5. Queremos a Estados Unidos fuera del dominio en América, pero con todo esto, lo que se logra es fortalecer su imperio y salvarlo de la crisis económica que tanto bien le hace en este momento a su industria militar un conflicto bélico.

Even political cartoon blogs from opposite sides, such as pro-Uribe Mamertoons [es] and anti-government Uribestiario [es], echo these opinions against a war with Venezuela.

But Plan Colombia and Beyond's Adam Isacson does not believe a war is likely, despite Chávez's rhetoric:

1. Both countries’ postures are defensive. […] Both sides are preparing to defend themselves from an attack by the other side – but neither appears to be planning an actual attack. Terms like “pre-emption” are not being used. Though each may be daring the other to make the first move, neither side is playing offense.

2. There is no definition of “victory.” It is hard to imagine a war scenario that either side can define as successful. Would Venezuela take over a few Colombian border towns? Would Colombia drop bombs on the presidential palace in Caracas? If so, then what? The scenarios themselves hardly make sense.

3. Both populations lack “war fever.” In neither Colombia nor Venezuela do we see people taking to the streets to call for war. Neither nation’s newspapers have been publishing editorials or columns demanding blood and sacrifice. There aren’t even any significant Facebook groups calling for a Colombo-Venezuelan conflict. […]

4. Much of this is about domestic politics. Both countries happen to be in a make-or-break election season.

Even so, Miguel Bernal criticizes the media coverage of the issue [es]:

Qué pereza los periódicos caldeando los ánimos. Estoy jarto de titulares tipo “Chávez le echó la madre a no se quién”

Incidents continue along the border, whose inhabitants are afraid “that the current tensions could escalate into a conflict with Venezuela.” On Thursday, November 19, three people were murdered in Arauca, near the border with Venezuela, while two civilian bridges were blown up by Venezuelan guards in Táchira, as Colombia's People's Ombudsman and Defense Minister denounced the incident [es]. The Venezuelan government claims that these bridges [es] were “hallways for contraband,” used by drug traffickers, paramilitaries, and smugglers. Colombian Defense Minister told local radio that Venezuela uses “imaginative excuses” [es] to justify the destruction of the bridges.

Ricardo Ladino had his say over this last incident [es]:

Yo también espero que los puentes de diciembre sean legales, de lo contrario Chávez nos acaba el día de las velitas y la navidad.

Photo of a child in a Soto exhibit by Alé and used under a Creative Commons license.

According to the art experts, Soto's art is inseparable from the viewer, who is an active participant of the artist’s piece. The illusion and the senses are completed by the perceptions of the mind as a result of observing, touching, and becoming part of the piece. Venezuelan bloggers and the online community in general, celebrate his art through articles, reviews, and videos taken in museums and inside the works themselves, while explaining the meaning of Soto’s works in their culture, landscape and daily life.

In his blog Literanova [es], Eduardo Casanova goes a bit deeper on Soto’s life and gives an insight of the history of the city he was born:

Jesús Rafael Soto nació en Venezuela, en 1923, en una población cargada de historia: Ciudad Bolívar, donde se instituyó la prensa escrita y se fraguó la creación de la llamada Gran Colombia (…) Era una población aislada, sin museos ni actividades del arte. El mismo ha dicho que aprendió solo el arte de la pintura. Deja su ciudad natal y viaja a Maracaibo, en el occidente del país, para encargarse de la dirección de una escuela de artes plásticas. En 1950 se va a París y allí comienza su carrera de artista creador de nuevas formas.

Photo of Soto Sphere in Caracas by Guillermo Ramos Flamerich under a GNU Free Documentation License

The YouTube channel of VenezuelaTuya gives an example of an experience walking through a piece exhibited in the Jesús Soto Museum, in Ciudad Bolívar:

The blog Talento Venezolano [es] also dedicates a space to talk about the artists and his most famous creations:

En 1967 creó la primera obra de la serie Penetrables, la cual consiste en instalaciones de tubos de plástico a través de los cuales el espectador se siente en un espacio mágico. Ambas obras que pudieron admirarse en el Museo de Arte Moderno, en el Grand Palais y el Centro Pompidou de París.

You Tube has also been a way for people to show their contact and emotions while interacting with Soto’s works. Children in particular, have had a special approach to the artistic experience inside the artist’s work, which has been shown and shared through these videos:

YouTube user elizaul1:

and YouTube user skaracas:

At the artist's webpage there are more galleries and information.

During my recent visit to his office in Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur, he chats with ease on Skype with another blind friend attending a conference in Los Angeles. When he opens an e-mail, the JAWS screen-reading software installed on his Lenovo laptop reads out the content in a robotic voice, which he seems quite accustomed to. When told that The Nut Graph is in the midst of incorporating disabled-friendly features into its website, he goes to the website to find out how accessible it is to his screen reader and keyboard navigation, and provides some helpful feedback.
Rahim relies on the internet for e-mail, to chat with friends and contacts on Yahoo! Messenger and Skype — which is much cheaper than on telephone — and to find out what's happening in the rest of the nation and world. He is also planning to develop a website to promote his family's body massage and foot reflexology centre, run by the blind, in Penang.

The World Health Organization estimates 600 million people live with disabilities — accounting for one in ten people on the planet. The World Bank claims three-out-of-four disabled people live in the developing world. In any corner of the globe, poverty and disability are often interrelated. For instance, more than 18 percent of disabled adults in the United States live below the poverty line. In Canada, the unemployment rate among persons living with disabilities recently jumped to nearly 15 percent.

Because technologies and communication devices help reduce physical barriers, ICTs provide a model to allow disabled people to better integrate socially and economically into their communities, argues Deepak Bhatia of the World Bank. Another promise of ICTs is they provide access to knowledge, the ability to organize and network. Perhaps most importantly, the education sector is being slowly transformed by technology, providing greater access to a variety of learning materials.

Human development and ICT use were discussed in general terms at a recent Harvard University conference. At the upcoming ITU Telecom World 2009 in Geneva, Switzerland, UNESCO will showcase flourishing ICT applications for people with disabilities.

Yam TW is an automotive engineer from Malaysia who lost his vision last year. At his blog, My Blind Sight, he writes about the importance of technical advances to help people living with disabilities.

Malaysia O Malaysia.. The rapid technological advances today have changed and impacted the lives of so many people, particularly the disabled. For the blind and the visually impaired, medical scientists and researchers, particularly from the west, are excited about the vast opportunities that can be explored and tapped in helping the blind to restore some level of sight. While it is important to create awareness in preventing sight loss among the rakyat(citizens), it is equally important too that more research work to be done in helping those already inflicted, blind due to various medical illness and causes. It is good to have modern assistive, both physical and ICT tools, which undoubtedly will enhance the independence of those concerned in their daily lives.

A few more examples of appropriate technology come from the blog Public dreams of a blind ICT user:

Sometimes dreams become reality, but first they must be dreamed. Hopefully I can find other active eInclusion dreamers in Europe.

I am dreaming of a fully accessible and usable Wikipedia for all. I am working for an accessibility project at the German Wikipedia and for example, on a Wikipedia help page for blind users. Wikipedia is an important part of the information society and should be supported:
http://www.epractice.eu/blog/154
I am dreaming of an independent and multi-lingual Blind Wiki with optimized user interface for blind readers and contributors:
http://blind.wikia.com/wiki/Blind_Wiki:About
I am dreaming of an accessible and affordable mobile ICT device for the needs of blind persons. In the last 8 months, I have written hundreds of direct mails and posted lots of blog comments to inform disseminators and decision makers about the topic but it's a hard and sometimes demotivating work:
http://blind.wikia.com/wiki/Open_Letter_Initiative

The list goes on.

From the United States, Wheel Chair Kamikaze explains the importance of voice recognition tools to help him type and blog.

Multiple Sclerosis is a thief. It is indiscriminate in its larceny, robbing its victims of both the profound and the trivial. The disease has stolen from me elements that were once the very foundations of my life (my career, a large part of my social life, the expectation that I would one day learn to juggle), and things that by comparison might seem somewhat slight, like the ability to type.

Since my right hand now has about as much strength and dexterity as a latke, typing has become a strictly one-handed affair. I was never that great a typist to begin with…

When MS robbed me of the use of my right hand, it made typing, which had always been an arduous two fingered affair anyway, into a one fingered nightmare. My ability to communicate via the QWERTY keyboard was virtually eliminated, a major handicap in this day of Internet bulletin boards, e-mail, and instant messaging. How then, the astute reader may ask, am I able to compose the drivel that I post to this blog?

The answer comes in the form of an amazing piece of technology, a voice recognition software program called Dragon NaturallySpeaking. This wonder allows me to simply speak my thoughts, and see them magically transcribed onto my computer screen. It's like something out of Harry Potter, but without all of the crazy protesters claiming that it promotes Satan.

Without Dragon, I would have been rendered mute to the world of the Internet, and instead would have been left only to rant at Melvin, the giant Kleenex who is my invisible friend. The program has relieved me entirely of the need to type, and if I were to wake up 100% healthy tomorrow, I'd continue using it.

Deaf communities in most developing countries face similar problems, writes Lourdes Pietrosemoli. “One of them is the lack of programmes specifically designed for the local Sign Languages of their communities.”

In Venezuela for example, although the Constitution states the right of linguistic minorities (and the deaf community is globally regarded as such) to receive education in their own language, in practice this is rarely accomplished because, on the one hand, there are no professionals who appropriately handle the two languages involved: Spanish and Venezuelan Sign Language (LSV) and, on the other hand, there are no curricula tailored to the needs of the deaf.

However, Pietrosemoli describes how six deaf participants took part in a IT Essentials training by the Cisco Networking Academy in Merida, Venezuela. It went so well, Pietrosemoli says the idea could be exported abroad.

This course was a milestone for the deaf in our city, who not only acquired basic tools for their individual development, but also the mechanisms to transmit the acquired knowledge to other deaf people in the community.

At the time of this report, the certified deaf students are highly committed to the project of transmitting knowledge to others in the deaf community and a training course to acquire the necessary tools to teach IT Essentials in the community has already been scheduled. With this last step, the potential future problems with (hearing) interpreters are circumvented. Moreover, researchers from the Impairment and Communication project have planned a training workshop on the use of the voice synthesis software which will take place next week. In short, this experience has represented what real human networking is about. More than a happy ending, it is an excellent start.

Maureen de la Cruz, who blogs at Law and ICT reports how common it is now for people living with disabilities to become acquainted with technology, making it easier to bridge the digital divide.

My friends Jay and Rene are quintessential geeks, with one interesting difference: they surf the Internet, use computers and access all their features through a special text-to-speech software. With their virtuoso touch-typing skills and sometimes with the monitor turned off (they don't need it anyway!), they have become expert programmers and have even experimented with web design and adapting compatible open-source software for use with text-to-speech programs. Jay is the first totally blind Computer Science graduate in the Philippines and works from home as a web content writer, and Rene now instructs other low-vision students as a member of ATRIEV's [Adaptive Technology for the Rehabilitation, Integration, and Empowerment of the Visually Impaired] staff. Both of them have attended and given training sessions and specialized courses on adaptive technology locally and abroad.

…Schools and companies often think they have to buy expensive equipment or make extensive technical and logistical adjustments to accommodate PWDs [Persons with disabilities]. As pointed out by blind architect Jaime Silva, buildings and public transportation facilities do not even comply with basic legal requirements such as providing wheelchair ramps or granting discounted fares to people with disabilities. Technology, however, is constantly opening up new doors for people like my cool, talented visually impaired friends. I certainly hope that the digital divide may yet be bridged not just for the economically disadvantaged, but that ICT may help to break down the barriers caused by physical limitations as well.

From the ICTDev Dot Org blog comes a story about Dipendra Manocha, a software developer who created open-source screen reading software in Hindi and other South East Asian languages.

Based on the premise that computer technology was not meant only for the wealthy, Dipendra has changed the way people with print disability read and write. Accessible multimedia is ideal for people with disabilities as well as for the general public to share information and knowledge world wide. The technology is now being introduced in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Nepal as well as India, which provides the exciting challenge of working in 22 languages as well as amongst vast geographical and cultural diversities. Dipendra is deeply dedicated to continue using technology as a catalyst to support the global sharing of human knowledge in the information society, and because of his focus on low-cost and open source technology, his work is highly replicable.

For all the anecdotes and blog posts on the role ICTs play in providing disabled people more access to technologies, I failed to find any statistics detailing the penetration of ICTs into this global community. Participants of the Harvard conference debated the merits of private enterprise pushing and governments and international organizations pulling the development of ICTs forward. Yet we still don’t know what’s driving ICTs into this field or their efficacy in increasing the scale of human and economic development for people living with disabilities. If you do, we’d like to hear from you.

Oliver Stone and Hugo Chávez at Venice Film Festival. Photo by nicogenin and used under a Creative Commons license.

Carlos Caridad-Montero of Blogacine [es] notes that the documentary is a “portrait of the Venezuelan President” and includes the thoughts from other Latin American leaders, who make an appearance, such as Argentine President Cristina Kirchner, Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa, and Bolivian President Evo Morales, among others. According to Caridad-Montero, many of these leaders share his ideology.

The choice of leaders invited to participate in the documentary is not lost on Julia of the blog Anti-Patriotic Venezuela, who writes:

Maybe is a very objective documentary that tries to show the true face of Chavez and other South American leaders beyond what's been told about them in the -so called - “mainstream media”. But in such face of the South American change, people like Uribe from Colombia or Alan from Peru were not interviewed - as far as I know, if I'm mistaken I hope some reader corrects me in the comment section - by Oliver. Maybe it can be a lot of things. But for me is yet another piece of political propaganda disguised as a “documentary”, for me it has strong chances of being something like the infamous “The Revolution will not be televised”.

The film was released at the Venice Film Festival in early September, and was recently screened in New York City at an event attended by Chávez, who was in town for the United Nations General Assembly.

Harold of the blog Panfleto Negro [es] provides a hard critique of the filmmaker and writes about Stone's “desperate cry for attention.” He adds that Stone's other profile pieces have not portrayed the entire story, and believes that this one will not be any different:

Lo de Stone el día de ayer en la alfombra roja con Chávez es, a todas luces, un desgarrador grito por atención. Y es que Stone lleva años tratando de crear “polémica” para hacer prensa a como de lugar. Desde su apología a la figura de Fidel Castro en Comandante, hasta las críticas a los presidentes republicanos como en la nombrada W, o en la mucho más antigua Nixon. Ni las excelentes actuaciones de Josh Brolin o Anthony Hopkins pudieron rescatar la mediocridad de ambas cintas…

The blog Waiting for Godot [es] guesses that the documentary was made with the money from the Venezuelan State. The blogger adds that Stone should have made an action film in Venezuela, so that people can see what really happens in the country.

NO, Oliver Stone, no podemos ver tu película como un documental informativo, porque a nosotros un Chávez como el que presentas igualado a una promesa de futuro es tan ficción como el que tú seas un hombre revolucionario y socialista.

However, the blog Aporrea [es] writes about the contrast in reception received by Chávez at the film festivals and what is happening in some social networking sites:

La calurosa acogida al líder venezolano contrastó con la fría y escasa respuesta que días atrás tuvo en Europa y el resto del mundo la convocatoria a marchas bajo la consigna “No más Chávez”, promovida por la derecha internacional a través de la página de internet Facebook.

Some blogs from abroad are also providing their thoughts on how the film will help balance the message about Chávez. Canadian Sabina Becker of News of the Restless writes:

All weekend long we've been hearing nothing in the news but how everybody and their dog is out marching against that “evil dictator Chávez” (o rly?) Well, finally the media have woken up to the fact that there's another side to the story.

(…)

Er. Actually, it's not evil at all. It's good, isn't it? Yes, absolutely. So why's it taken so long for the media to catch on? Well, they didn't have Ollie Stone to interview. And they couldn't very well break the news on his latest doc without talking to the man. And oh, bad luck for them–every word out of his mouth has been nothing but good about Chavecito, and slams for his detractors.

Nevertheless, within all the pride of the incredible hard work that every girl participating in this kind of contest has to pass through, some Venezuelan bloggers question the real pride behind an industry that has had such an impact on Venezuelan culture. Leaving aside the large number of online notes and posts about the excitement of having a new Miss Universe crown in Venezuela, there has been another parallel online discussion that has questioned cultural interests, concepts of beauty and hard work, and actual pride.

Grets, in her blog I'm F***ing Fantastic [es] has a more categorical point of view:

..no es que yo les esté mostrando una realidad alternativa, sólo que ustedes se empeñan en vivir en un logro ficticio, por una corona que no importa más que 9.000 niños muriendo de hambre en una noche tan linda como esta; un certamen que no sólo se hunde en el mal gusto sino que da pena que un país en sus tristes condiciones esté celebrando ante los ojos del mundo su desgracia.

Also, Luis Manuel of the blog Voyage [es] tells the story of how, in Paris, he changed his mind on what he used to consider one of the prides of his country:

Antes, andaba yo orgullosisimo de vivir en el pais de las Miss Universos y de las Miss Mundos, el pais con las mujeres mas lindas del mundo.

Y fue un simpre crepero,(…) quien se encargó de estropear mi orgullo ridículo. “Ahhh tu eres de Venezuela?” me preguntaba mientras reía, “es verdad que ustedes tienen una escuela para formar misses? que gracioso!” “es verdad que desde pequeños tienen concursos en las escuelas para elegir a la niña mas bonita?. Que cultura!”.” Es verdad que es uno de los paises en donde se hacen mas cirugias plasticas? y gastan dinero en eso?, que superficiales!”. “Es verdad que es el pais del mundo que gasta mas cosméticos per cápita?, y teniendo gente que muere de hambre?. Qué contraste!”

Eso me hizo reflexionar, en verdad de lo estupidos que somos en esta sociedad!: tenemos el mismo sistema organizado de captar, formar y desarrollar talentos del mundo desarrollado, pero en vez de cientificos o deportistas, formamos misses!. Es verdad que las mujeres aqui son especialmente bellas, pero de que nos sirve tener tantas Miss Universo?,

In addition, a lot of people on their YouTube channels have made videos and collection of clips of the exciting moments in which Venezuelan beauty queens have achieved world titles like Miss Universe and Miss World. However, it was ABC Australia who made a documentary (the video can be found here) of the beauty obssession in Venezuela, and how this concept is led by the most important organizer of this famous contest: Osmel Sousa.

This was not the first time that beauty contests were discussed to be superficial or part of entertainment. Nevertheless, taking into account the influence of the Miss Venezuela concept both in media and in people, it is a way to look into the culture's contemporary questions around their ways to see themselves and how they show their image to the world. More of this discussion can be seen in these tweets.

Photo by Alé and used under a Creative Commons license. http://www.flickr.com/photos/alele/3779476136/

The current Constitution guarantees freedom of expression, but it also indicates that there must be some limits and responsibilities. However, this bill increases the number of crimes that may be committed by those in the media. The bill contains 17 articles that states that owners of media outlets, journalists, sources, and anyone that participates in any communication media, may receive up to 4 years in prison if the published news causes a public panic in the population or disturbs the peace, security, or independence of the Venezuelan State. The same punishment can be applied for those manipulating information, as well as those that harm “the mental health or public morals.”

It is these vague terms that concern many Venezuelan bloggers and journalists. They argue that the loose interpretation of these crimes may allow the government to crack down on any members of the media that criticize the government. It would be up to the government's discretion to determine what actions fit within the framework of the new law. Many of the country's bloggers and journalists are quite concerned about how such a law might be applied and what it would mean for journalism in Venezuela.

One such person is Journalism professor Moraima Guanipa, who comments on Twitter that the bill is a [es] “new attempt to establish censorship and self-censorship through the penalization of journalistic work.”

A couple of bloggers were among those that are using citizen media tools to create videos to provide their thoughts on the bill. Blogger Naky Soto made a viral video explaining how the bill strengthens the punitive character in the practice of journalism. Another blogger, Jogreg Henríquez of the blog Circulemos [es] created a video to alert the dangers that “anyone” could go to jail because of the government's loose interpretation of the regulation. The video is subtitled into English:

Other reactions from Venezuelan twitterers:

Kira Kariakin @kirakar

Dicen que George Bush asesoró a Luisa Ortega Diaz (la Fiscal) en su propuesta de Ley de delitos mediáticos…

@lobohombreriera

Leo la ley de delitos mediáticos. A ver quien es el guapo que puede definir lo que es “salud moral”. Vaya país. #FreeMediaVe

Analiz Suárez @anairinna:

Junto a la Ley de delítos mediáticos, deben -a su vez- crear una mega carcel, para que puedan meternos a todos :) ¿no que no?

@nabifer:

esto de la Ley de Delitos Mediáticos no deja dormir. Yo creo que no nos estamos percantando de la magnitud del asunto. #freemediave

The blog Panfleto Negro [es], which recently celebrated its 10 year anniversary as an online collective, comments that a law like that will also affect the State.

Finalmente, en Venezuela se legalizará la censura, una avanzada heroíca de la derecha conservadora y fundamentalista. El único aspecto positivo consiste en la posibilidad real de hacer limpieza. Desde ya en panfletonegro esperamos que apresen al Presidente, a todo el tren ministerial y a los miembros relevantes de la Asamblea Nacional, así como también a todos los reporteros de los canales del Estado y de los medios privados, por los delitos que cometen diariamente según este proyecto de ley.

In addition, the blogger at Slave to the PC [es] makes an announcement: “I declare myself a delinquent. Ladies and gentlemen, soon I will be a delinquent. Every time that I criticize some governmental action in this blog, I will be running the risk of being tried by the ‘Venezuelan justice' system.” He added that the other risk is self-censorship:

La idea de criminalizar la información es un reflejo claro de que este Gobierno está en decadencia. La justificación de querer poner límites a la libertad de expresión muestra un rechazo impresionante a la democracia. El debate, la discusión y, lo mas importante, la voz de cada quien, quedan suspendidos hasta nuevo aviso. La autocensura será la solución de los entregados. La búsqueda y muestra de la realidad será la bandera de los que lucharán. Caerán algunos, de eso estoy seguro, pero no podran callarlos a todos.

On the other hand, Michel, a pro-government blogger, uses the same argument as the Attorney General in saying that freedom of expression should be balanced with the citizen security and cites the irresponsibility of some media outlets [es]:

La fiscal general señaló que es necesario regular la actividad de los medios y brindarle una protección apropiada a los ciudadanos, quienes lucen indefensos ante el uso irracional del poder que actualmente ostentan los medios de comunicación social.

Finally, journalist Carlos Correa, director of the NGO Espacio Público [es] writes about what is at stake:

Dada la importancia de la libertad de expresión en una sociedad democrática, debe el Estado garantizar y promover su ejercicio, no limitarlo mediante leyes que buscan silenciar los medios de comunicación o todo intento de expresión libre y crítica.

Statue of South American liberator Simón Bolívar in Tehran. Photo by Eshare and used under a Creative Commons license: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rshoraka/1244078060/

In his blog Venezuela’s News and Views, Daniel criticizes this support and puts the light on the analysis made by the foreign media regarding the alliance with Iran:

(…) Chavez to Ahmadinejerk does not mean Venezuela to Iran (…)

But Center Left major paper Le Monde did take notice that not only Chavez is about the only Western leader in the word to come strongly on Ahmadinejad side (well, he has been cheating electorally since at least 2003) but that this support should not be surprising and should be considered ominous. That for sure will play nice among the French leftist intelligentsia (and among the wuss right too). It never ceases to amaze me how Chavez has an ability to stick his foot in mouth at the very worst moment. But thanks to oil until now he was able to make limited come backs. Let's see how that works out now.

Meanwhile, Juan Cristobal in his blog Caracas Chronicles makes an “iran-alogy” in this comparison of scenarios and whether lessons could be learned from what Venezuela experienced in the 2006 Presidential election. He writes that there is “no happy ending”:

Sadly, if anything, Venezuela's experience does not provide much hope for Iran's Mousavi backers. I'm no Iran expert, but judging by what we've gone through, this slow kabuki dance will be long on drama and short on substance. We learned long ago that not to underestimate a petro-dictatorship's ability to ignore what happens on the streets. Marcha no mata mullah, chamo, y Twitter no mata dictadura (Marches don't kill the mullah and Twitter does not kill dictatorship). Just ask the Burmese monks.

(…)

The other lesson is in the power of alternative media as a way of overcoming official censorship. As we see the last independent TV station in Venezuela gasping for air, it's easy to think of its demise as the end of the possibility of regime change.

But the world is changing, and old media is not the only media out there. The role of alternative media sites such as Facebook or Twitter or (hell, why not) blogs in the current crisis should be carefully analyzed, specially by Venezuela's hapless opposition.

In the article Venezuela, Iran’s best friend? posted by Alex Holland takes a look at the relationship between the two countries, including the fact that Venezuela was one of the only countries that cast a vote against putting Iran in front of the United Nations Security Council in regards to its nuclear activities. However, the relationship also includes cooperation in the petroleum industry. Iran is helping Venezuela develop some of its natural resources through these agreements. However, Holland points out that there have been some claims by the media that do not accurately portray this relationship:

A recent article from the conservative US newspaper, the Washington Times with the title, “Venezuela Seeks Nuclear Technology”, gave the impression that Venezuela was about to take delivery of Nuclear Weapons from Iran to use against the US.

General James Hill, the head of the U.S. Southern Command claimed Venezuela was supporting “Islamic terror groups” in one of its major tourist resorts, Margarita Island. This was immediately and easily disproved by journalists visiting the alleged sites.

Despite some of these outlandish US claims, Venezuela’s reasons for having an alliance with Iran is motivated by other things than wanting to be part of an “Islamo-bloc” of nations against the US.

(…)

The two countries do not share all the same foreign policy aims either. Venezuela is more than happy to do business with a country the Iranian President recently said should be, “wiped off the map.”

Israel has received millions of dollars from Venezuela in recent years. This money was to pay for weapons such as anti-aircraft missiles. Israel would have gotten another $100 million last year to repair Venezuela’s F16 fighter aircraft if the US government had not stopped the deal.

Chavez also sent his best wishes to the Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon when he became seriously ill in January. The Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s comments for Sharon were less generous.

From Venezuela, the non-profit organization Muchachos de la Calle [es] (Street Children) has been working to “develop citizens, through the teaching of artisan skills, in order to reduce the number of children and adolescents that live and/or work in the street” and shares its experience through its blog [es]. Another organization, Observatorio de Infancia y Juventud [es], is also working to “construct a social investigative organization in order to collect data that allows for the formulation and follow-up of public policies; as well as to receive complaints and provide support against the threat and violation of Human Rights of children and adolescents in Venezuela.”

The blog Periodismo Guayanés [es] writes about child workers who are the “last in line”:

el hecho de que exista un número significativo de instituciones gubernamentales y no gubernamentales de atención a los niños, así como un ordenamiento jurídico favorable en la materia, no endosa el éxito, es necesario la implementación de los sistemas y el seguimiento de los mismos. Algunos expertos coinciden en que la anulación del trabajo infantil es viable, sólo si diseñan mayores posibilidades laborales para los adultos y sus comunidades, y que las soluciones están en brindar alternativas a las familias para que “rompan el ciclo de pobreza a través de cooperativas, y la adquisición de maquinaria agrícola, por ejemplo, no se sigan estancando los sueños de los más pequeños”. “Los costos de erradicar el trabajo infantil serían de 76 mil millones de dólares y los beneficios económicos netos para 2020 serían $330 mil millones de dólares. Es decir, habría un beneficio neto para la región si se eliminara el trabajo infantil” aseguraba en 2005, María Arteta, directiva del Programa Internacional para la Erradicación del Trabajo Infantil (IPEC) de la Organización Internacional del Trabajo.

Photo by David Sasaki and used under a Creative Commons license. http://www.flickr.com/photos/oso/3602948325/

A recent post from Mexican blogger Mario Luis Fonts describes the “atrocity of child labor.” He points out that families with low incomes, shortages, a lack of sound governmental policies, and even migration as some of the causes that lead children to this situation [es]. In addition, Maricel Pérez on the blog Sinergia a.m. [es] writes a touching story of a child worker, Pablo:

Más conocido como “Pablito”, este pequeño se levanta a las 6 a.m. y alista todos sus útiles. Camina muchas cuadras y en la calle de Corregidora, esquina con Universidad, deja todos sus herramientas de trabajo; cierra los ojos, ora y le pide a Dios “que me vaya bien hoy Diosito, no quiero quedarme sin un peso esta noche”. […]

Ya se acerca la noche, y Pablito sólo recibe $20 pesos, que seguramente es muy poco para los lectores; pero él dice que “me sirve para comprar una coca y unos tacos o unas papas de paquete en la tiendita de camino a casa; lo que me sobre se lo doy a mi mamá que trabaja aquí cerca en otra esquina”

Así puede ser la situación de varios niños que trabajan en diferentes calles de las ciudades mexicanas; unos pueden sufrir más que Pablito, otros menos que él. Lo que yo pueda decir sólo es un pedazo de lo que viven los que jamás son escuchados, los que gracias a un poca cantidad de pesos son auxiliados para sobrevivir; pero muchos no nos damos cuenta de su sufrimiento, de la realidad que viven aquellos seres, una realidad que parece ser distante a la nuestra, sin embargo, habrá que darse cuenta de que hasta que no nos preocupemos por escuchar a los demás; y por romper esa indiferencia hacia los otros; la situación de nuestro México no mejorará jamás.

The blog Un Boliviano en Argentina [es], written by Juan Vasquez, a Bolivian immigrant living in Argentina posts a cultural question that discusses the problem inherent to culture and idiosyncracy:

un tiempo atras en una conversacion con unos compañeros, discutimos por un tema puntual dentro de la colectividad, q es la del trabajo infantil. En medio de la charla una de las participantes dijo algo q me llamo muchisimo la atención….dijo: …”tenés q ver el lado cultural de la cuestión, alla en Bolvia también trabajan en las cosechas, las chacras, y los padres de esa forma les enseñan. Para ellos esa la unica forma de aprender todo lo q se refiere a la siembra y cosecha. En los talleres pasa algo similar, los chicos aprender un oficio y ayudan a sus padres”… Ese comentario me dejó mucho mas preocupado, ya q no solamente es un discurso q “naturalisa” esa forma de trabajo y explotacion sino q tambien ese mismo tema fué argumentado en el fallo de un juez argentino Oyarvide dijo q la forma de explotacion en la q los bolivianos trabajamos aqui se puede explicar como una especie de “Ayllu”.

And finally from Peru, I add a post from my blog Globalizado [es] that I wrote, and contains facts and figures about child labor in Peru that estimated that 1.8 million children are currently working. There are also rough estimates that the number could grow to 2.5 million children, according to a report in the news site RPP [es].

Las causas y consecuencias de esto son muchas, y dada la crisis económica no creo que haya mejoras en la situación. El Fondo de las Naciones Unidas para la Infancia apoya a los niños sin embargo no es suficiente. Basta con recordar desde los casos de los niños esclavizados en las zonas mineras o las niñas que son víctimas de explotación sexual a los niños mendigos o los niños burrier para saber que hay mucho por hacer en este campo.

What can be done to help alleviate this problem in Latin America and around the world?